No sanction yet to try govt servants in coal scam: CBI to court

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said that he would decide on the issue regarding sanction on July 22

Workers clear a track in a railway coal yard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad
Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Jul 02 2015 | 5:57 PM IST
CBI today told a special court that there has been "no progress" on the issue relating to grant of sanction by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to prosecute two public servants for their alleged involvement in a coal block allocation scam case.

The agency submitted that relevant case records were sent to the competent authority for considering according sanction to try K S Kropha, then Joint Secretary of Ministry of Coal, and K C Samaria, then Director (Coal Allocation-I section) in the Coal Ministry, for the alleged offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It said as over four-and-a-half months have elapsed since the records were sent to the competent authority, the court should deem that sanction has been granted to prosecute these accused in terms of the judgement passed by the Supreme Court.


Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar perused the written submissions filed by CBI prosecutors and said that he would decide on the issue regarding sanction on July 22.

"Some written submission has been submitted by the senior public prosecutor qua the issue that more than four-and-half months have elapsed since the time the records were sent to the competent authority in terms of order dated November 12, 2014 for considering according of sanction but no action has been taken so this court should draw inference that sanction has been deemed to be granted," the court said.

"Accordingly, put up the matter for consideration on July 22," it said.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of coal block in Rampia in Odisha to Navbharat Power Pvt Ltd (NPPL).

The court, in its order of November 12, last year, had said that the acts of former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and the then senior officials of the Ministry of Coal (MoC) in overlooking alleged misrepresentation by NPPL for acquiring coal block, prima facie amounted to criminal misconduct.

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First Published: Jul 02 2015 | 4:48 PM IST

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